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* [[Jared Ornstead|Jared "Skysaber" Ornstead]] is known for his deliberately over-the-top self-insert character Skysaber, an interdimensional superspy-troubleshooter who was actually apotheosized into a literal god during the course of ''[http://web.archive.org/web/20080512012417/http://www.asynjor.com/fanfic/sharp.html The Bet]''.
** His current (August 2007) project is a "type two" Self Insert called ''My Gilded Life'', in which he has found himself taking over the life of Gilderoy Lockhart right at the end of ''[[Harry Potter]] and the Philosopher's Stone''; with his knowledge of the books he is deliberately and relentlessly running roughshod over canon. Sadly, he seems to be losing control of the story, and it's running off the rails.
* The [[Eyrie Productions, Unlimited|authors]] of ''[[Undocumented Features]]'' started the project in the early 1990s as a self-insert fic for themselves and many of their friends, but as time has gone on, the focus has moved mostly off their avatars and onto other, newer characters.
** Many other [[EPU]] projects also involve self-insert avatars, making it one of their signature details. However, even though their series ''[http://www.eyrie-productions.com/NXE/ Neon Exodus Evangelion]'' ''didn't'' include either of the two primary writers as insert characters, critics still accused the story's lead of being one or the other ''in disguise''. (Arguably this protagonist, DJ Croft, ''is'' a [[Marty Stu]]. But he's not an avatar.)
** ''NXE'' manages to [[Inverted Trope|invert]] the [[Author Avatar]] trope with John Trussell. He was inserted in the story ''before'' he became one of the authors.
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* When challenged to write a shameless self-insertion in the Harry Potter fandom, [http://sam-storyteller.livejournal.com/ Sam Storyteller] went the 'godlike powers and meta knowledge' route. The end result was a touching [http://sam-storyteller.dreamwidth.org/99272.html guardian angel] style piece which may just have turned the genre on its head.
* The hero of ''The Takers'' is [[Two-Fisted Tales|two-fisted]] action-adventure writer Josh Culhane. The book is written by action-adventure writer Jerry Ahern, who deliberately gives the character some of his own traits.
* Many Harry Potter fanfictions feature an 'American exchange student' (in a British school), who happens to have a main character fall in love with them and be friends with everyone (even the Slytherins). No reason is ever given behind the exchange, nor do any Hogwarts students ever go over to America..
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=== Video Games ===
* ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' is somewhat notorious for its terrible self-insert fictions, mostly starring young fifteen year olds who somehow get sucked into their television sets and get keyblades.
** [[Deconstructed]] in ''[[Those Lacking Spines]]'', which in one chapter, a long line of wannabe Keyblade bearers are waiting for their keyblades, with the [[Original Character]] population getting so high that the introductory towns in the game are incredibly filled.
{{quote|"There's sure a lot of people here," Tsuki tilted her head and bit her lip a bit. "I guess I was under the impression there was, um, only one Keybearer."
'''Yeah, you'd think so, wouldn't you?''' the creepy text said irritably. '''But in this world, the Keybearers apparently reproduce like little bunnies.''' }}
* A writer of ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]]'' fanfic wrote themselves in as being the off-screen love interest of the character Mariko "Spirit" Tanaka, who {{spoiler|died in the Heaven's Gate mission series}}. The odd part (or more so than otherwise) was that the character and said love interest {{spoiler|both died, when Spirit [[Driven to Suicide|crashed into the starbase where her fiance was supposedly held prisoner]] by the [[Mega Neko|Kilrathi]]}}.
** You can read it [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1530595/1/The_Spirit_of_Christmas here.] Draw your own conclusions.
* [http://www.mgcomics.com/MBC/ Mixed Bag Comics] is a [[Sprite Comic]] using characters from, well, [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover|as many sprite-based games as possible]]. Some of these characters appear to act as if in their original continuities while others don't and yet more do so only partially, making the position of the self-insert seem less out-of-place than it would be otherwise. The webcomic twists the trope even further in several ways:
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** Neither the author nor the narrator, despite being reality-benders, are the most powerful characters in the story; there are godlike programmers that are more powerful reality-benders than both the author and the narrator, and both have been trumped several times by regular characters as well.
** The author ''not'' a very important character, but he isn't so unimportant that he's just an occasional cameo. The author is pretty much on equal terms with the rest of the cast in terms of importance and shifts out of the focus of the comic as often as any of the other regulars.
* [[Final Fantasy VII]] fandom is a breeding place for this type of fanfiction. A good example would be [http://www.fanfiction.net/~highpriestessmegami Sephirothslave's][http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1052718/1/Shinra_High Shinra High] and its sequel, [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/1900045/1/Shinra_SOLDIER Shinra SOLDIER]. The main character is a blatant self insert. There are few differences between the OC and its creator: it shares her name, appearance ([[Buxom Is Better|with improvements in the bust area]]), likes and dislikes, preferences, fears, desires, opinions and some skills. The self insert allows Sephirothslave to enjoy the game universe, twist the characters to her own liking, "earn" a position as Commander of the Shinra Army, Sephiroth's love and the adoration or respect of everybody except a few who hate her (and are thus automatically evil). What few seem to notice however, is that she didn't only insert herself into her fanfictions, [[Thirty-Sue Pileup|but also her real life friends (while not even bothering to change their family names), younger sister and even her ''band teacher'']]. The massive ego-mania and canon defilement have earned her hundreds of negative reviews, the occasional [http://lian-hua.livejournal.com/3626.html sporking] and the [[Unstoppable Rage|outrage]] of many fans of the game.
* A less Stu-ish example comes from [[ToyHammer]] with a direct self-insert (down to name, appearance and personality) in the form of Vincent, a friend of the main character (a reclusive artist named Michael). There's a slight piece of [[Fridge Brilliance]] in there when you realize that both Vincent the author and Vincent the character both literally 'drop off' Michael into the story (via creation then by car), but otherwise that's the only mention of him for the first ten chapters of the story. However, he does become a surprisingly competent fighter (for an unfit gun-geek) {{spoiler|and later a [[Supporting Leader]]}}.
* ''[[My Inner Life]]'' has the blatant self insert Mary Sue of Jenna Silverblade. Hilariously, the author actually freely admits that Jenna is "herself" (or rather an alternate version of herself who lives in Hyrule when she sleeps) and gives a huge disclaimer at the beginning that because of this, [[Daydream Believer|she believes the fanfiction to be true to some degree]].
* [http://danbooru.donmai.us/pool/show/1017 Manga of My Memories of Playing Touhou] by Shino/Ponjiyuusu is example of [[Tropes Are Not Bad]]. Shino replaces playable character and acts as [[Psycho Lesbian]] [[Butt Monkey]]. She repeats mistakes made by common Touhou players and get herself hilariously beaten by game bosses from PCB to UFO.
* Another [[Tropes Are Not Bad|well made]] example of this trope could be [[Mass Vexations]], whose protagonist, Art is actually a fan of ''Mass Effect'', which he loses repeatedly and ends up trapped in, making him [[Genre Savvy]] to the point of [[Medium Awareness]], [[Justified Trope|justifying]] his status as a [[For Want of a Nail|nail]] in the Mass Effect universe even when he doesn't [[Invoked Trope|invoke it]] himself. While Art ends up in a relationship with a canon character, their relationship progressing at a realistic rate, only becoming [[Just Friends|official]] 20 chapters in to the fic's [[Mass Effect 2]] version, more than two years after they met.
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* ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4483666/1/Neos_Happy_Funtime_Land Neo's Happy Funtime Land]'' by [[User:Neo The Saiyan Angel]] is an excellent parody of a Self Insert, in which the author rewrites an episode of ''[[Kim Possible]]'' and secretly tricks the animators and voice actors into producing it. The author describes herself as an "absolutely gorgeous person..." for a paragraph or two. Neo goes so far as to change a character's hair with the snap of her fingers, saying that she liked it better blond.
* [[User:Donteatacowman]]'s brief fic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4616905/1/The_Strange_Self_Insert The Strange Self Insert]'' sees the author dropped into ''[[Kim Possible]]'' to gush over Ron (but she preferred him evil) and tell Kim she's one-dimensional. Unsurprisingly, they decide to send her home as quickly as possible.
* In the ''[[Animaniacs]]'' fanfic ''A Horrible World of Plot Holes and Spelling Errors'', the author inserted herself into the fic. Dot immediately recognized her as "that bitch who had me strangled to death by a drug addict on Christmas Eve". Since the fic was a parody of current fics, the Warners encountered no less than three [[Mary Sue]]s (two of which were hopelessly in love with Yakko), spelling errors galore, and a crazed fan of Dot. The Warners go to the author to see what was going on. She explained that it was a parody of Mary Sues and the role they play.
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]''. Where to begin? There's ''tons'' of them out there. When you find one, expect that the Sue will be in love with Danny and have ghost powers [[New Powers as the Plot Demands|for no explainable reason]].
* ''Transformers''. Oh ''Primus'', where do I start... The classic example would be infamous [[Tri Chess]] (that now seems to disappear off the web). ''[[Transformers Armada]]'' has it the worst, with almost every OC being a self insert of various degree and a [[Mary Sue]]. Regularly played with and parodied in Insecticomics.
* Who hasn't seen ones like this in X-Men Evolution? Plenty to see, some not that bad, some terrible, you decide.
* ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic]]'', due to the high and notable levels of [[Longing for Fictionland]] in its fandom, has a lot of "human in Equestria" stories, and it can be guessed a lot of these are self-insert fics. ''[[Through the Eyes of Another Pony]]'' began as an attempt to pull off a self-insert character well, though the protagonist's characterization has since evolved away from simply being the authorial alter ego.
** "[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/7153949/1/Filling_the_Gap Filling the Gap]" (warning: not very safe for work, or for people with quality standards) is an example of a poorly disguised Self-Insert Fic where the author accidentally switches [[Point of View|from third person to first]] at times, forgetting that they're supposed to pretend the protagonist totally isn't them. This story perhaps beats a record by doing so in ''the very second sentence'', and then doing so again, in both cases in the middle of a sentence—to surreal effect.
{{quote|''... he found himself losing my grip on reality very quickly.''}}
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* It has been argued that ''[[Left Behind]]'' by Tim La Haye and Jerry B. Jenkins, is biblical [[Fanfic]] where the two intrepid, studly, and irreproachable leads (Rayford Steele and Buck Williams) are transparent [[Marty Stu|MartyStus]] for the authors and their personal ideologies.
* Subverted by [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] when he includes himself as a character in ''[[The Canterbury Tales]]''. He tells a tale [[Stylistic Suck|so lame]] that he gets rudely interrupted by the host (who also makes fun of his nerdy appearance).
* Look at a picture of Laurell K. Hamilton and then read a description or look at a picture of the title character of the ''[[Anita Blake]]'' series. Yeah...
* The same goes for [[Twilight (novel)|Stephenie Meyer]].
** [[Canon Sue|Bella]] is never given a physical description in the text, but [[Word of God|SMeyer's description of Bella on her website]] sounds [http://bs3073.k12.sd.us/images/Stephanie%20meyer.jpg suspiciously familiar]:
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* Margaret Thatcher once wrote a skit for ''[[Yes Minister]],'' in which she played the part of the Prime Minister. The piece is [[Actually Pretty Funny|actually quite amusing,]] and did air on the BBC.
* Melina Kanakaredes (Stella Bonasera) wrote a fifth season episode of ''[[CSI New York]]'' and turned her character into a forensics [[MacGyver]].
* [[Charlie Brooker]] likes to write in sneering, cynical [[Only Sane Man]]-type characters who resemble himself. In ''[[Nathan Barley]]'' the character of Dan Ashcroft qualified, and in ''[[Dead Set]]'' it was the [[Big Brother]] producer, Patrick.
** Although both of these are also clearly shown to be enormous bastards, so what this says about Brooker's opinion of himself is open to discussion.
* In the ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' epsiode "Superstar", Johnathan "Short Idiot" Levinson uses demonic powers to alter reality into a painfully-bad Self-Insert Fic, complete with the Scooby Gang following him around like stunned guppies. It even includes a bit of [[Twin Threesome Fantasy]] for good measure.
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=== [[Video Games]] ===
* ''50 Cent: Bulletproof'' and its sequel ''50 Cent: Blood on the Sand''. According to [[The Other Wiki]], when asked to do the voice for the main character of ''[[Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas]]'', 50 Cent replied that he would only voice himself in a video game. So these little self-insert adventures were developed for him.
* This trope is literally invoked in the ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'' series with the [[Winnie the Pooh|100 Acre Wood]]. Thanks to the magical nature of the book (it sucks the reader from the "real" world into the story), restoring the Pages (and thereby reconstructing the world) and interacting with the characters, allows Sora to (inadvertently) rewrite the plot of ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' to include himself as a prominent character. When you lock the world's keyhole, it even includes him on the cover with the rest of the characters.
* In-universe example: The fifth arc of ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' is largely a Self-Insert Fic written by the main villain, whose [[Author Avatar]] hijacks the story from the usual protagonists and proceeds to wreak havoc on the plot and characters.
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* ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' has had a fair number of self-inserts over the course of four versions. Usually they're not frowned upon, as long as they're treated realistically and don't stretch the [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]]. And other times [[Write Who You Know|characters based off of people the handler knows]] show up too.
* Since the day the ''[[Draw Your Own Story]]'' comics began on the CivFanatics forums, most of the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] were more or less [[Mary Sue|Sue]]-ish self-inserts (often represented by the user's avatar.)
* [[SCP Foundation|SCP]]-[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/scp-423 423] is literally named "Self-Inserting Character," a piece of paper who can add a minor character named "Fred" into the story. Normally the character plays a background role, never very important or changes the story. However, it was noted that when placed inside it's own SCP article, the only thing that changed was the addition of "ruggedly handsome" at several points.
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[[Category:Older Than Print]]
[[Category:Fanfic Tropes]]
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